Heat-radiating curtain



L. S. SIMON HEAT-RADIATING CURTAIN July 21, 1964' 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Feb. 26, 1962 INVENTOR: 55767! .5. 67/70 v Arfjffl') L. S. SIMON HEAT-RADIATING CURTAIN July 21, 1964 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Feb. 26, 1962 INVENTOR. 5525/? s. .s/no/v United States Patent 3,141,954 HEAT-RADIATING CURTAIN Lester S. Simon, Hall Ave., Larchmont, N.Y. Filed Feb. 26, 1962, Ser. No. 175,741 3 Claims. (Ci. 219-24171) This invention relates generally to curtains, and has particular reference to improvements which impart heatradiating qualities to curtains.

The term curtain as used herein and in the appended claims, is intended to include within its scope not only drapery-type curtains, but also curtains of the slatted variety.

Curtains are customarily employed for light-controlling purposes, as barriers to cut off or restrict visibility between separated areas, or for ornamentation. An object of the invention is to provide a curtain which can serve the additonal purpose of radiating heat, thereby contributing to the control of temperature on one or both sides of the curtain. Thus, from a broader aspect, the invention relates to the field of heating and ventilating.

If a curtain that gives off heat is positioned adjacent to a building wall which separates regions of different temperatures, it can be employed in various ways to affect the rate of heat exchange between such regions. For example, a heat-radiating curtain arranged in a room adjacent to a window can minimize the loss of heat from the room through the window area and thus serve to increase the efliciency of the conventional room-heating means whatever its nature may be. It is an objective of the invention to provide a practical means for accomplishing this result.

While curtains are usually thought of as hanging in substantially vertical planes, and walls (especially window walls) are also usually considered to be vertical, it will be understood that certain features of the invention are not restricted to vertical arrangements and that the benefits of the invention are attainable also with curtains and walls (such as ceilings) extending in other-than-vertical planes or directions.

A more particular object of the invention is to associate an electric heating means, in a practical manner, with a curtain whose effective area is adjustable to enlarge and diminish it. To accomplish this, it is a feature of the invention to provide a heating means of correspondingly adjustable character, and to furnish a means for not only establishing an electrical connection between a power source and the heating means but also for maintaining the connection during enlargement and diminution of the curtain area. Where the curtain is of slatted character, in which the slats are movable to separate them by varying degrees, the heating means consists of separate resistance units associated, respectively, with different slats, and the electrical connection is maintained by flexible conductors interposed between the slats.

The invention is applicable to slatted arrangements whether the slats extend horizontally, as in conventional Venetian blinds, or vertically; and the features of the invention allow it to fulfill its purpose even though the slats are tiltable or otherwise angularly adjustable. Similarly, the invention may be incorporated in drapery-style curtains, whether they are drawn horizontally into and out of expanded condition, or vertically, or otherwise.

In utilizing the invention in association with slat-type ice curtains, it is a particular feature to provide flexible connectors in which a connector part secured to one slat is separably joinable to another part secured to another slat. In this way, the assembly of the slats with one another during manufacture, and with the supporting strips, separators, tilting mechanisms, and other known elements, can be carried out in conventional fashion, and the electrical interconnections can be established thereafter without requiring any special tools or skills.

In a preferred embodiment of the invention, slats are provided with heating units and connectors of such nature and arrangement that the units can be connected together in parallel. As a result, certain advantages are attainable when heated slats in varying numbers are selectively assembled to provide radiant and convective heating surfaces of various magnitudes.

These and other desirable advantages of the invention are attainable in thoroughly practicable fashion, and relatively inexpensively, in accordance with manufacturing techniques currently employed.

One way of achieving the objectives and advantages of the invention, and such other benefits as may hereinafter appear or be pointed out, is illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which-- FIG. 1 is a front elevational view of a slatted curtain composed of slats hanging vertically, embodying the features of this invention, parts being broken away for the sake of compactness of illustration;

FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view substantially along the line 2-2 of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is an enlarged face view of one of the slats;

FIG. 4 is a diagrammatic plan view showing the rela tionship of the slats, and their adjustability, when the curtain is extended;

FIG. 5 is a similar view showing how the slats can be brought closer together;

FIG. 6 is an electrical diagram;

FIG. 7 is an enlarged cross-sectional view along the line 7-7 of FIG. 3;

FIG. 8 is an enlarged fragmentary cross-section of a slat of modified character; and

FIG. 9 is a diagrammatic representation of one way in which the curtain may be associated with a building wall.

The type of curtain chosen for illustration is one in which slats 10 are suspended with their longitudinal axes vertical, the slats being movable by a cord 11 into relatively separated dispositions (FIG. 4) or into closer relationship (FIG. 5), and the slats being also adjustable angularly on their axes by a cord 12 to tilt them to desired degrees between the parallel dispositions shown in full lines in FIG. 4 and the aligned relationship indicated by dot-and-dash lines in the same figure. These slat controlling mechanisms are well-known and therefore they will not be described in detail. It is thought to be sufficient to point out that the cord 11 draws carriers 13 back and forth along a guide shaft 14, and the cord 12 achieves the desired tilting by rotation of this shaft. The shaft 14 carries beveled gears 15 meshing respectively with beveled gears 16 journaled in the carriers 13 on vertical axes. Each gear 16 is mounted at the upper end of a vertical spindle 17 which carries a book 18 at its lower end, upon which one of the slats 10 is supported, as best indicated in FIG. 2. Small chains 19 (or equivalent means) extend between the slats 10 at the top to limit 3 the degree of separation, and similar chains 20 may be secured to the slats at their lower ends.

The heating means employed in a curtain of this kind consists of separate resistance units associated with individual slats. The resistance unit may be of any suitable or desired type, and for illustrative purposes a heating means has been shown which consists of a thin flat currentcarrying element 21, sandwiched between a pair of slat layers 22 (see FIG. 7). Obviously, an insulation coating (not shown) separates the unit from the slat layers if the latter are metallic, but if the slat material is of plastic or other non-conductive material, insulation may not be required. The unit may assume any desired shape, and may direct the heating current along any desired path of travel. As illustrated, the unit is essentially U-shaped, the arm shown at the left in FIG. 3 terminating at 23 along one side edge of the slat, and the arm shown at the right in FIG. 3 terminating at 24 along the opposite side edge.

Extending from the terminal 23 are a pair of flexible connectors 25, 26, and extending from the opposite terminal 24 are a similar pair of connectors 27, 28. Each connector terminates in a device which is one of a pair of complementary separable fasteners, so that separable connections can be made between the flexible connectors extending from successive slats. These connections are made so as to connect the several resistance units in parallel, and the way this can be accomplished is best indicated in FIG. 4.

Considering first the slat 19 shown in the middle of FIG. 4: it is to be noted that the connector 27 is turned toward the slat at the left, while the connector 28 is turned toward the slat at the right. Similarly, the connector 25 is turned toward the slat at the left, and the connector 26 toward the slat at the right. A separable connection is established between the connector 27 of the middle slat with the connector 28 of the slat at the left; and a similar connection is established between the connector 28 of the slat in the middle with the connector 27 extending from the next adjacent slat on the right. The connectors 25 and 26 are similarly separably joined.

The slat at the extreme left end of the assembly has its connectors 27 and 25 joined to leads Z9 and 3% extending from a connection cord 31 leading to a conventional connector plug 32. This plug can be inserted into any conventional electrical outlet, as indicated at 33, in FIG. 1. The slat at the extreme opposite end of the assembly has connectors 28 and 26 which hang free. It may be desirable to establish a connection between these unused connectors and dummy covering plugs or the like, for safety purposes.

The electrical connection that is thus established is indicated in FIG. 6. Obviously one of the advantages resides in the fact that any selected number of heated slats may be added to the assembly or removed from it, depending upon requirements, and that the full voltage of the power supply is applied to all heating units.

Of primary importance is the fact that the connections between the successive slats are flexible and allow the slats to be moved apart and brought together during the normal operation of the curtain. Also, the slats may be tilted as illustratively indicated by the dot-and-dash lines in FIG. 4, or in the reverse direction if desired, and the flexible connectors allow this tilting to be carried out in the usual fashion.

Another way of associating a heating unit with a slat is shown, for illustrative purposes, in FIG. 8, A coating of insulation 34 is applied to one face of a metallic slat 35, and the conductive heat-generating resistance material is sprayed on, or otherwise applied, in the form of a thin film 36. An outer protective layer of insulation 37 is then applied, and extended around the edges of the slat 35, as shown, and across the entire second face. Suitable connection terminals (not shown) are applied, and electrically connected to the layer 36, in any suitable desired way.

It should be understood that heating units can be associated with the curtain in other ways also, and that the basic curtain material, whether in slat form or not, may be of any selected cloth, fibreglass, metal, plastic, or other substance, and may be either flexible or relatively rigid. Of course it must be a material able to withstand heating, and it should preferably be well adapted to dissipate heat by radiation and convection.

The electrical connections can also vary to suit different requirements. For example, the connections between a plurality of heating units need not necessarily be in parallel, but may under some circumstances be in series, or in other electrical relationships. The flexible connectors between the units need not necessarily be as much exposed to view as the depiction of FIG. 1 appears to indicate; and the heating units themselves need not necessarily follow a U-shaped path nor is it always necessary that they extend for the full length of each slat.

Merely for illustrative purposes, a building wall 40 has been diagrammatically represented in FIG. 9, in which a window 41 is mounted. On the assumption that the wall is an outside wall of a building, separating a heated interior Region A from an unheated relatively cold outer Region B, a curtain of the present type might be advantageously positioned as indicated at 42, adjacent to the wall 40 on the warmer side thereof and substantially parallel to the wall. The radiation of heat from the curtain 42 reduces the rate at which the heat in Region A passes through the wall at and the window 41 into Region B.

Obviously, there are many ways and many situations in which the heat-radiating curtain of this invention can be put to practical use. It is therefore to be understood that many of the structural details herein illustrated and described are merely by way of illustration, and that these details may be modified in many respects, by those skilled in the art, without necessarily departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as expressed in the appended claims.

What is claimed is:

1. A Venetian-blind-like heating curtain comprising a plurality of parallel slats, means for moving said slats toward each other and away from each other in order to vary effective area of the curtain, additional means for simultaneously pivoting said slats about their respective longitudinal axes while retaining them in parallel relation to vary the angularity of the slats with respect to the plane of the curtain as a whole, each of said slats including a base element, a first layer of insulation on one face thereof, a layer of heat-generating resistance material overlying said insulation, and a second layer of insulation overlying said resistance material, flexible electrical conductors extending from said resistance material and provided with means for separably connecting them to similar conductors extending from other slats, said conductors being of suflicient length and flexibility to permit said slats to move toward and away from each other to the full extent of such movements and to permit said slats to pivot freely, and means for connecting said interconnected slats to a source of electric power.

2. A Venetian-blind-like heating curtain as defined in claim 1 wherein said first-mentioned means moves said slats away from each other to a maximum distance between adjacent slats no greater than the Width of an individual slat, and wherein the length of each of said electrical conductors is at least equal to the width of an individual slat.

3. A Venetian-blind-like heating curtain as defined in claim 2 including a two-piece electrical connector forming part of the electrical connection between each two adjacent slats, the pieces of said connector being separable to permit said slats to be electrically disconnected from each other.

(References on following page) References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Marick Mar. 31, 1942 Herrington May 10, 1949 Herrington Jan. 24, 1950 Boester Sept. 26, 1950 Cassidy et a1. Oct. 2, 1951 Meininger Oct. 16, 1951 Wright July 22, 1952 MacKendrick Nov. 4, 1952 10 6 Chandler June 8, 1954 Teiger June 11, 1957 Custer July 22, 1958 Willat July 29, 1958 Garaway Nov. 4, 1958 Klenz Jan. 20, 1959 FOREIGN PATENTS Switzerland July 1, 1947 Great Britain June 24, 1959 

1. A VENETIAN-BLIND-LIKE HEATING CURTAIN COMPRISING A PLURALITY OF PARALLEL SLATS, MEANS FOR MOVING SAID SLATS TOWARD EACH OTHER AND AWAY FROM EACH OTHER IN ORDER TO VARY EFFECTIVE AREA OF THE CURTAIN, ADDITIONAL MEANS FOR SIMULTANEOUSLY PIVOTING SAID SLATS ABOUT THEIR RESPECTIVE LONGITUDINAL AXES WHILE RETAINING THEM IN PARALLEL RELATION TO VARY THE ANGULARITY OF THE SLATS WITH RESPECT TO THE PLANE OF THE CURTAIN AS A WHOLE, EACH OF SAID SLATS INCLUDING A BASE ELEMENT, A FIRST LAYER OF INSULATION ON ONE FACE THEREOF, A LAYER OF HEAT-GENERATING RESISTANCE MATERIAL OVERLYING SAID INSULATION, AND A SECOND LAYER OF INSULATION OVERLYING SAID RESISTANCE MATERIAL, FLEXIBLE ELECTRICAL CONDUCTORS EXTENDING FROM SAID RESISTANCE MATERIAL AND PROVIDED WITH MEANS FOR SEPARABLY CONNECTING THEM TO SIMILAR CONDUCTORS EXTENDING FROM OTHER SLATS, SAID CONDUCTORS BEING OF SUFFICIENT LENGTH AND FLEXIBILITY TO PERMIT SAID SLATS TO MOVE TOWARD AND AWAY FROM EACH OTHER TO THE FULL EXTENT OF SUCH MOVEMENTS AND TO PERMIT SAID SLATS TO PIVOT FREELY, AND MEANS FOR CONNECTING SAID INTERCONNECTED SLATS TO A SOURCE OF ELECTRIC POWER. 